


Harmony

by Eiliem



Series: Family Reunion [6]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Brotherhood, D Brothers, Family, Fluff, Gen, POV Third Person, Strawhats, Whitebeard Pirates - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-27
Updated: 2009-11-27
Packaged: 2017-10-03 20:45:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eiliem/pseuds/Eiliem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luffy unknowingly causes a commotion and Ace starts to fit back into the flow of life on the Moby Dick.</p><p>Part 5 of the Family Reunion series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Harmony

For the second time in as many days, Ace was shaken awake, far too early in the morning.

"Jo… zu… whaa..?"

"Ace, get up, your brother–"

Ace bolted upright. "What's wrong!?! Where's Luffy?!"

Jozu shot him an aggravated look. A look that said plainly: "Like we'd ever let something happen to your brother while he's on our ship. Idiot."

"Right, sorry. What did Luffy do this time?"

Jozu grinned. Evilly.

Ace wasn't sure he wanted to know anymore.

"Oyaji has invited your brother to have breakfast with him."

Ace was so distracted by the ominous look on Jozu' face, it took him a moment for the words to sink in. "He WHAT!?!" That wasn't _fair_! Ace wanted to introduce his brother to his captain!

"Get dressed, you're missing the show."

When Ace and Jozu got to the main deck, not five minutes later, there was already a small crowd gathered, staring with various expressions of disbelief at Luffy, sitting cross-legged next to Whitebeard's chair and eating breakfast.

Ace heard a groan behind him and turned to see Nami staring at the scene with an expression of mingled gloom and vexation. "He's going to kill him. Luffy is going to say something stupid and disrespectful and _stupid_ and Whitebeard is going to kill him."

Jozu snickered. "Oh, I don't think you have to worry. He already challenged Oyaji for the position of Pirate King and he's fine."

Ace whipped his head around so fast he probably would have cricked his neck if he weren't made of fire. "What?! When did this happen?" Nami applied the palm of her hand to her forehead. Forcefully.

"Right after he fell out of the sky." Jozu's said, in a tone of voice somewhere between amused and incredulous.

"What, did he just say: 'Hi, I'm Luffy, I'm going to be the Pirate King'?!"

Jozu snorted. "I don't think he even introduced himself."

Ace didn't know whether to laugh or be appalled. Mostly he was just really, really sorry he'd missed this.

A cacophony of noise and the telltale sound of Zoro and Sanji bickering even at this early hour announced the arrival of the rest of the Strawhats. They came to an abrupt and unnaturally silent halt right behind Nami.

Robin smiled. "Well, this is certainly interesting."

Usopp whimpered.

"Shitty idiot's going to get thrown overboard and I'm going to have to go fish him out."

"Yohohoho~"

"Yo Ace, SUPER morning eh?"

"Yes, good morning. I hope you slept well."

"Marjane made _crêpes_ this morning!" Chopper told him enthusiastically – apparently every sleep was a good one if there was something sweet for breakfast at the end of it.

Zoro said nothing at all but settled against the railing as if he intended to take a nap. Right after breakfast.

"Aaaah, that was good!" The deck went spectacularly quiet as Luffy finished eating.

"So, you're a friend of that brat Shanks?"

"Ummm, no, I don't know any brats called Shanks. But I know a pirate called Shanks! You know him too though, right? You asked me about his hat. Hey, are there lots of people called Shanks in the New World? That's sooo coooool!"

"Gurarara! Fair enough, so you know Shanks."

"Yeah! OH! Hey, Ace – did you ever meet Shanks?"

"Yeah, he threw me a party when he found out we were brothers."

Luffy whooped cheerfully. "Shishishi, that's great! You'll have to come to the party when I give Shanks his hat back!"

Whitebeard chuckled. "Hmm, people seem to like you, for all that you're a rude, impudent brat."

"You're ruder than I am."

"Gurarara! Brat, I owned these seas before your _parents_ were in diapers! You're a snot-nosed rookie."

"So? I don't care how old you are; I'm still going to be the Pirate King. And you're still rude."

Ace figured he had about a week before he got mortified by Luffy's complete lack of respect and had to kick his ass on principle. But the past week's fears and reassurances had left Ace light-headed with relief, cheerfully insulated from Luffy-induced exasperation. At the moment he was just _happy_. Happy to be home, happy to be with his brother – and if the various members of his family didn't get along Ace was just going to sit back and laugh when his captain kicked Luffy off the ship.

And hope that his brother's nakama weren't too mortified themselves to fish him out.

Marco swung by and casually passed a starving Ace two breakfast sandwiches. "I'm afraid you're no longer the most entertaining thing that ever happened to this ship."

"Really?" Ace swallowed half his sandwich. "I thought the most entertaining thing that ever happened to this ship was when you ate your Devil's Fruit." He turned to the Strawhats. "He burned down the–"

"Who told you about that?

"My lips are sealed." Satch ha– had had a big mouth.

"Oh? Well did you tell your new friends about the times Oyaji blasted you off the ship? How about when you fell asleep halfway through your fight with Doma? No, no – tell them about the soup!"

Ace was never going to live down the soup.

Ever.

Marco wasn't laughing, but the fake-serious look was just as mocking. "Hmmm, on second thought you're still the funniest thing that ever happened to us."

"Thanks."

Eventually most of the people on deck got bored of watching the two captains talk – Whitebeard had motioned that he wanted space to speak to his guest privately, and other than Luffy occasionally throwing his head back and laughing, nothing particularly exciting was happening.

The Strawhats wandered off to wreak their individual chaos on the ship and its inhabitants, apparently having decided that Whitebeard would not, in fact, murder their captain for general rudeness.

While Ace would very much have liked to know what those two could possibly have to say to each other, he had places to be and things to do and people to catch up with. His nakama had apparently decided that he had recovered – physically and emotionally - sufficiently and suddenly everyone wanted some of his time. Including their allies, who followed Oars' crew's lead in stealing Ace away for a few hours.

Marco found it hilarious, of course, and Ace was happy to see everyone, but he suspected the Second Division was going to have _words_ with the Decalvan Brothers for kidnapping him in the middle of their lunch-party. Ace would have been annoyed as well, but then they fed him a second lunch. He also got to eat dinner with Doma and again on Whitey Bay's ship.

Allies were great.

Bay's crew kept him until the evening, and when he returned to the Moby Dick he walked almost literally into his captain. Whitebeard grinned down at him and Ace resisted the urge to ask him what he thought of Luffy.

"I can see why Red Hair took to him." Whitebeard remarked as Ace fell into step with him.

"Huh?"

"Your brother, he's a lot like Shanks' old captain."

"Really? Who was that?"

"Gol D. Roger."

Whitebeard had not spoken of Roger to Ace since the latter had confessed his parentage nearly two years ago. The mention now was an unpleasant shock. He wished he could feel pleased and proud for Luffy that an old rival of the Pirate King thought them comparable, instead of like he had just been sucker-punched.

"This boy has something the old king didn't, though."

"What?"

"Hell if I know. Gurarara!!" Whitebeard clapped him cheerfully on the shoulder "Good night Ace."

Shit. You couldn't tell someone that their little brother reminded you of their late, _unlamented_ father and just... walk off like that. _Hey Ace, nice weather, by the way, your brother reminds me of the useless bastard I used to try to kill, back in the good old days. Sleep well._

What did that even _mean_?!

"Well, that was interesting." And Usopp should not have been able to sneak up on him! Had all his skills gone to shit in Impel Down alongside his sanity?

"Hello, Usopp." Just because he was in shock and apparently losing his mind – he had to have imagined that conversation, _had _to – was no reason to forget his manners.

"Interesting but weird." Usopp continued as if he hadn't heard Ace. "Really, really weird. Is your captain always that weird?"

Ace reminded himself that Usopp – travelling as he was with _Luffy_ – probably considered "weird" to be a compliment. Also Luffy would kick his ass if Ace beat up one of his nakama. It was a near thing though.

Usopp must have picked up something of Ace's mood however, because he wilted slightly and held up his arms defensively. Ace got a hold of himself and waved away Usopp's apology before the long-nose could voice it. "No, that was… unexpected."

"Most things about Luffy are." Usopp remarked, with the long-suffering expression of someone who _knew_.

Which didn't explain what Whitebeard saw of his old rival in a seventeen year-old rookie pirate. But Ace had escaped Impel Down with his sanity intact – he thought – and he hoped to keep it that way, so he buried the last ten minutes deep in the _things he never wanted to think about ever again_ part of his brain and resolved to keep them there.

"Did you need something?" He asked Usopp, who was starting to look decidedly uncomfortable.

Usopp jumped. "Ah, Luffy and Chopper are teaching a bunch of your crewmates the chopstick dance and… uh, Luffy wanted to know if you'd like to join us."

Go sleep off the shock of you captain telling you that your little brother reminds him of you're the one person in the world you want nothing to do with; watch your crewmates make asses of themselves. Sleep it off, watch, sleep, watch–

He grinned wryly at Usopp. "Sure, why not?"


End file.
